Helen Davis Zettle, UB administrative assistant

Helen Davis Zettle, a longtime administrative assistant at the University at Buffalo, died Saturday at the home of her daughter in Williamsville after a short illness. She was 88.

Born in Berlin, Md., Mrs. Zettle grew up in the Philadelphia area after moving there with her family at a young age. After high school, she took a job manufacturing wartime goods at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, Pa. There she met her husband of 41 years, Vernon C. Zettle, who was kept out of World War II on account of an eye condition.

She and her husband eventually settled in Buffalo, where Mrs. Zettle held a variety of administrative positions at the University at Buffalo, first at Norton Union, the former student union, where her role as public address announcer earned her the nickname “The Voice of Norton Union,” and later at the School of Dental Medicine.

Mrs. Zettle read voraciously and frequently audited classes at UB. She shared a passion for travel with her husband, and together they traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East.

She was also an active member of the Amherst Senior Center, where she attended a weekly current events group and offered insights culled from her firsthand experience of American history dating back to the Great Depression.

Survivors include a daughter, Connie Z. Davis; and a stepson, Jerry.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Christ the King Catholic Church, Main Street and Lamarck Drive, Snyder.